Since they were the last team I suppose the options (from the production company's POV) were:

(a) allow them to quit, which would throw the non-elim out of whack; they would have had the next leg prepared for 5 teams.

(b) allow them to take the penalty of 4 hours. But does that 4 hours pick up the following day or does it disappear overnight? If it continues into the next day, it may totally screw up the schedule for the race, especially if they had remained at the dance task for several hours already.

(c) Encourage the dance instructor to put them through, assuming the outcome wouldn't be affected negatively (knowing it was a non-elim; knowing there would be a bunching up soon, etc.)

They would have to sit at the dance challenge for four hours before being given their next clue, and then they'd have to go to the tea house, and then complete the Detour. By the time they checked in, the penalty would have been served and wouldn't carry over to the next leg.

I also don't necessarily believe that the placement of the non-elimination legs is fixed. I think there's a very real possibility that the producers determined this would be a non-elim when it became obvious that the most sympathetic team left in the race was about to be eliminated.

Yes, there are only five teams left. But there are at least 2-3 more episodes, and the producers would obviously like Mark and Bopper to be in as many of them as possible, since they're the only team left that hasn't been completely childish and/or hateful at some point during the race. Considering that there was a non-elim just two episodes ago, it seems like this one came a little too quickly for it to have been planned ahead of time.

And yes, they showed Mark and Bopper doing the taxi side of the Detour, but there was no need to show much of it, since we had already seen all the other teams check in, so the only remaining mystery was whether they'd be eliminated or not.

I also don't necessarily believe that the placement of the non-elimination legs is fixed. I think there's a very real possibility that the producers determined this would be a non-elim when it became obvious that the most sympathetic team left in the race was about to be eliminated.

They might as well create a Mark and Bopper show then. I prefer my racers to be good at racing. If all the teams hate each other that's fine by me. It's a real race for a million bucks. People are allowed to be a-holes every once in a while.

...Clearly they made huge allowances for Bopper, his last attempt was not his best....

See, that's the problem, though. His last attempt clearly was not his best, so why in the heck didn't they get the clue from some of his earlier attempts? (which were at least as good as a few of the other teams' "winning attempts")...

__________________"Wonderful things can happen when you sow seeds of mistrust in a garden of a**holes," -- Philosopher Raylan Givens

They might as well create a Mark and Bopper show then. I prefer my racers to be good at racing. If all the teams hate each other that's fine by me. It's a real race for a million bucks. People are allowed to be a-holes every once in a while.

Sure, but first and foremost it's a TV show that needs to attract viewers, and most viewers need someone to root for.

Is it me or everyone else think, that in past amazing race seasons, for the pit stop, they had to figure out through clues where the pit stop is.

Now it seems they just tell you where the pit stop is. I thought it was more challenging and better when they used to make you FIND the pit stop instead of just tell you where it is!!!

TAR used to be a lot more challenging overall IMO. In the first couple of seasons knowing how to search for good flights could give you a strong lead, now it seems like every time they travel from country to country they're all on the same flight unless in the extreme cases of a team having a very commanding lead or being very far behind. The last 3 seasons it also kind of seems like they have to buy their tickets from the same travel agency in whatever area they're in, so if a team was far ahead chances are the travel agency would be closed early in the morning forcing them to wait.

Is it me or everyone else think, that in past amazing race seasons, for the pit stop, they had to figure out through clues where the pit stop is.

Now it seems they just tell you where the pit stop is. I thought it was more challenging and better when they used to make you FIND the pit stop instead of just tell you where it is!!!

I think it's been a LONG time since they made the racers decipher the clues on a regular basis. There may have been an isolated clue here and there that required them to figure something out, but overall, it's been at least ten seasons since the clues have been very difficult.

I think any of us that are fans of the "race" aspect of the show would like to see more difficult clues. But the reality is, watching the racers blunder around without being able to figure out the clue does not make for good TV. And this is a TV show first, and a race second. They have to keep the teams moving and keep the action flowing. Having a bunch of dough heads running around asking locals what some clue means isn't compelling TV.

TAR used to be a lot more challenging overall IMO. In the first couple of seasons knowing how to search for good flights could give you a strong lead, now it seems like every time they travel from country to country they're all on the same flight unless in the extreme cases of a team having a very commanding lead or being very far behind. The last 3 seasons it also kind of seems like they have to buy their tickets from the same travel agency in whatever area they're in, so if a team was far ahead chances are the travel agency would be closed early in the morning forcing them to wait.

Speaking of that, how about Ralph and Vanessa finding an alternate flight in this episode that actually got them to India before everyone else, only to then immediately squander their lead by loafing around the airport asking people how to find a bus rather than simply going outside and getting on the bus.

I also don't necessarily believe that the placement of the non-elimination legs is fixed. I think there's a very real possibility that the producers determined this would be a non-elim when it became obvious that the most sympathetic team left in the race was about to be eliminated.

But the trouble is, the "storyline" isn't created at the time of the race. Hours and hours and hours of footage is generated and then gets packaged by the editors and writers to flesh out a story to make it entertaining. They might have had an idea that Mark and Bopper would be a very feel-good team, but at the time, who knows if they were going for an arc that day between Team Army and Team Border Patrol (based on the previous leg's blatant animosity and blow-ups)?

But the trouble is, the "storyline" isn't created at the time of the race. Hours and hours and hours of footage is generated and then gets packaged by the editors and writers to flesh out a story to make it entertaining. They might have had an idea that Mark and Bopper would be a very feel-good team, but at the time, who knows if they were going for an arc that day between Team Army and Team Border Patrol (based on the previous leg's blatant animosity and blow-ups)?

This is a good point. I'm not 100% confident that the producers manipulate the placement of the non-elim legs to keep popular teams in the game longer. However, I do think it's a possibility. And I also think it's very likely that the producers had seen enough at this stage of the race to know that all the other teams had been involved in some kind of drama or another, while Mark and Bopper had been nothing but positive toward each other and the other racers. It wouldn't be hard for them to figure out that M&B would be the feel-good team of the season.

I think since the season where a team was arrested in Morroco (some local people told them a clue was in a mosque, it wasn't, and according to the local laws only members of islam may enter the mosque) the producers keep a very close eye on the teams. I think they also keep track of bitter fights and rivalries, and alliances perhaps to tell the camera men to keep the cameras rolling when near their rivals or alliance members to catch any drama.

I think since the season where a team was arrested in Morroco (some local people told them a clue was in a mosque, it wasn't, and according to the local laws only members of islam may enter the mosque) the producers keep a very close eye on the teams.

Is that something they never showed? Because I sure don't remember that. The closest I remember someone getting to being arrested was once season where they had a real dispute with their cab driver, I want to say somewhere in Africa.

I honestly don't believe they determine whether a stage is a non-elimination stage or not based on who's at the bottom. There's an awful lot of logistics that go into these things, and at the very least, you'd be affecting the number of camera crews you'd need for a leg if they change whether someone's getting eliminated or not.

Is that something they never showed? Because I sure don't remember that. The closest I remember someone getting to being arrested was once season where they had a real dispute with their cab driver, I want to say somewhere in Africa.

Yeah I don't remember that either. Only the one you mention with with the taxi, which was in Africa and involved Colin of "my ox is broken!!!!" fame.

They get lost and are then "detained" by a constable after almost going into a mosque (not sure if that was the reason.) The last image you see is the constable demanding that the camera be shut off. While in detention, they are repeatedly asked for their papers which they refused to do because of stories about the police holding onto them and not returning them.

The camera turns back on at the mat. On the mat they look really weary, told they are safe from elimination as it's a non elim leg, but from what I remember they looked like they didn't care about that fact at that moment and were just happy to be out of whatever situation they were in. I always wondered if the producers had to pay for their freedom.

EDIT: They were eliminated on the next leg. They were so far behind because of their detention that all flights to the next country/destination had already left and there were no more flights available for the day.

They get lost and are then "detained" by a constable after almost going into a mosque (not sure if that was the reason.) The last image you see is the constable demanding that the camera be shut off. While in detention, they are repeatedly asked for their papers which they refused to do because of stories about the police holding onto them and not returning them.

Oh right, I remember that. The taxi drove them off into nowhere land. I don't remember there being a mosque involved, just a taxi that drove them way off the beaten path, and then the local police did want to hold them.

The Wikipedia does say that the AR security team had to get them out of the situation:

Quote:

During Leg 6, Andre and Damon were officially detained when their taxi took them far out of the way in Morocco and they encountered a local official who wanted to seize their passports. Andre and Damon refused, and the show's security team had to come help them out of the situation.

The dance challenge was interesting. I do wonder why didn't just edit out the whole Mark/Bopper giving up thing. It seems pretty clear that the fix was in after that. I don't really care, but they made it appear fairly blatant for no reason.

There's obviously no way to prove this, but I'd be very surprised if this episode had been a non-elim if any other team had finished last.

Realistically this was the last leg that could have been non-elimination. We know there are 5 teams going into next week's leg, which means there will be one more leg with 4 teams, then the finale. If this were an elimination leg then next week would have 4 teams, and that can't really be non-elimination. Everyone knows that with 4 teams, Phil congratulates each of the first three teams to arrive and tells them they have made it to the final 3 and will be racing for $1M. If that didn't happen, it would be blindingly obvious to viewers that it was non-elimination the moment the first team reached the mat.

Realistically this was the last leg that could have been non-elimination. We know there are 5 teams going into next week's leg, which means there will be one more leg with 4 teams, then the finale. If this were an elimination leg then next week would have 4 teams, and that can't really be non-elimination. Everyone knows that with 4 teams, Phil congratulates each of the first three teams to arrive and tells them they have made it to the final 3 and will be racing for $1M. If that didn't happen, it would be blindingly obvious to viewers that it was non-elimination the moment the first team reached the mat.

Previous seasons in which the final* non-elimination leg happened with four teams remaining:

1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17

In other words, it's far more common for them to have the final non-elimination leg after the next leg rather than after this leg.

*There have been several seasons where the final leg is spread out over two episodes, effectively acting like a non-elimination leg with just three teams, but I didn't count those as non-eliminations.

The last 3 seasons it also kind of seems like they have to buy their tickets from the same travel agency in whatever area they're in, so if a team was far ahead chances are the travel agency would be closed early in the morning forcing them to wait.

Yeah, I wondered about the travel agency too. In a VERY quick shot, we saw a sign (partially cut off on the right, at least on my SD-recording) that said something like
travel agency
------>

which I guess implied that's why everyone went to the same travel agency.

Also, so people agree that it was a "pity pass" to give him the pass on the 12th dance? He didn't seem to be better or worse on that one, and even what they showed had some 'misses' where he didn't match the other dancers.

Also, so people agree that it was a "pity pass" to give him the pass on the 12th dance? He didn't seem to be better or worse on that one, and even what they showed had some 'misses' where he didn't match the other dancers.

I think they should have given it to him way earlier. He was no worse than some of the others. You can look at as the judges were too harsh on him or as they were too easy on the women and border patrol.

I think Dave and Rachel are a good team and deserve to win it all at this point. Yes, there is some minor snark and disagreeableness between them, but not that much and easily excusable given the stresses of the race.